


Stardom and Confidence

by isissa



Series: Mettaton and NEO [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dating, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, racism/monsterphobia themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:45:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5763526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isissa/pseuds/isissa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I've pretty much abandoned this series, but it's a series of short stories about an AU where mettaton ex and mettaton neo are two different people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

            It was 7am, the morning of one of her all nighters, Alphys heard the familiar sounds of Neo shuffling upstairs. The robot moved past her place at the kitchen table, opening the fridge and pulling out a can of drink. She heard shuffling and movement behind her for a few minutes before Neo walked around to sit opposite to her at the tall table, balancing a mug of coffee and a can of energy drink in his hand. Alphys observed his features, face blank and devoid of energy, eyes staring straight forward. He poured his can on energy drink directly into his coffee and took a sip.

 

            "I'm going to die." He tipped up the mug and drained the contents of it. Alphys nearly died of shock.

 

            "Neo, you're going to blow your system!!"

 

            Neo slumped forward and let his forehead hit the table as his only response.

 

            "...Rough night?"

 

            "Mettaton hasn't spoken to me in a week." Neo mumbled through the wooden table.

 

            "Didn't you two sort everything out?" Alphys inquired, taking a bite out of the toast in her hand after asking.

 

            "Yeah." A pause. "I thought we did. But now...I haven't heard a thing from him."

 

            Alphys grimaced, taking another bite before speaking. "Wasn't he on a shoot? That might be it."

 

            "'Shoot ended Tuesday. It's Saturday."

 

            "And we went to his house on-"

 

            "Sunday, so it's a week." Neo managed to pull himself up from the table, resting his face in his hand. "I don't get it, Alphys. Did I do something wrong?"

 

            "No, I don't think so. I think Mettaton is just overreacting to what happened." She began flipping through a notepad. "You should go and see him."

 

            "Wouldn't that be annoying?"

 

            "He's probably hoping you'll make the first move. He tends to...not think about things he's uncomfortable with."

 

            Neo's curiosity piqued at that, but he thought Alphys' reserved expression wasn't an invitation for further questions. "I'll go see him then-"

 

            "Good." Alphys smiled warmly.

 

            "-if..." The dinosaur's smile faltered for a moment. "you come with me."

 

            "Oh, Neo, I'm very bus-"

 

            "It's just so I don't back out. You can drop me off at the door. Is that okay? We've both spent more time inside than out this week. You're always telling me fresh air is good for monsters and robots alike."

 

            "That's true, but certain monsters have to meet milestones to get paid."

 

            "Please Alphys?" Neo stuck his bottom lip out and pouted.

 

            "Neo, I just-"

           

            "Pleeeeeeeeeeease, Alphys? I just need you for support." His eyes got a little watery.

 

            "...fine..." Alphys stood up from the table, straightening her notebook. "We're leaving right now in that case. I can't believe I made you too pretty to resist."

 

            Neo stood up, revived with newfound energy. He launched at Alphys and wrapped her small frame in a powerful hug. He gave her the first genuine smile she'd seen in days from him, so Alphys figured it was worth a little time off work.

 

            "I'll drop by Undyne's on the way back, she wanted me to drop off some dvds. So I guess I needed to go out, anyway."

 

##

 

            "You know maybe this isn't such a great idea, Doctor."

 

            Alphys shook her head, alleviating his fears to the best of her ability for the eighth time in the space of a half hour's walk. "It's fine, Neo. I know Mettaton, this is the best way to handle things."

 

            Neo nodded, biting his lip. The two walked for about ten seconds more before Neo abruptly turned around. "No, no I'm definitely going to annoy him. I'll just wait for-"

 

            "Neo, come on, please," Alphys tugged at his arm gently. "we've come this far, just go and talk to him."

 

            Neo turned, reluctantly, and caught up with Alphys who was shuffling off. The morning's light was just beginning to warm up the footpath and every now and then a car would pass by.

 

            "What if he's charging? I can't wake him up-"

 

            "He won't be. He likes to get up early."

 

            Neo glanced up at the sky. "What if he's not there?"

 

            "Then you can walk home _after_ you find that out."

 

            Neo was beginning to run out of excuses to go back home, so he fell silent. Just as they passed a particularly large office building, Neo heard a metallic clank next to him. He turned just in time to see an aluminium can bounce off the back of Alphys' head, and a car swerve past them. A human leant their head out the door and yelled something he couldn't discern.

 

            "Alphys?" Neo squeaked out. "Are you o-okay?"

 

            Alphys merely sighed and shot him a smile. "I'm fine. It's just a drink can." Alphys leant over and picked it up, presumably to throw it in the bin a few blocks down.

 

            "Who was that?" Neo asked, unconvinced by Alphys brushing him off. Alphys shrugged back at him.

 

            "Dunno, humans just...do that, I guess."

 

            Neo was absolutely incensed, his hand shaking a little bit. Alphys looked passive, as if she was used to it happening. She did leave the lab a lot more than Neo, so he wasn't used to this happening, but even so...

 

            "Shouldn't you t-tell them off or something? That shouldn't...they shouldn't do that to you, Alphys..."

 

            Alphys smiled back at him, it was warm but made Neo just feel bad. She grabbed his hand with her claws and gave it a firm squeeze. "Thank you for worrying, Neo, but it's fine."

 

            Neo grimaced, unconvinced but not wanting to push Alphys further on it. Alphys looked thankful after he dropped it, and they continued their quiet walk to Mettaton's house, still holding each other's hand.

 

            The next fifteen or so minutes passed by uneventfully, Alphys dropped Neo off at the front door and gave him instructions on how to get inside the building, leaving him with her spare key card. Neo's tiny amount of confidence left with Alphys, but he forced himself to walk into the building, taking the elevator up to Mettaton's penthouse. One short trip later and he was waiting in the smallish lobby area just before Mettaton's loungeroom, building up the courage to knock on the door.

 

            Tap tap.

 

            It was quiet, probably too quiet, but just in case Mettaton had heard Neo didn't want to knock again. He stood there for a while in ambiguity, not knowing whether he'd been heard, or if Mettaton was even home, or if he was would he even answer the door for Neo? Maybe he just didn't want to speak to him again, or maybe-

 

            "One second darling, I'll be right there~" Mettaton's voice rang through the door. Neo relaxed for a moment, then tensed up again. In the moment between Mettaton calling out and opening the door, it occurred to the pointy robot that he hadn't thought about what he was going to say at all. Would he just introduce himself like normal? Did he need to talk about what happened a week ago? Was Mettaton expecting anything from him and if so, what?

 

            His thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging open, revealing Mettaton with half finished makeup and a lazily tied dressing gown wrapped around him. Neo almost choked, spluttering out "h-h-hello M-Mettaton!"

 

            Mettaton's face fell as they made eye contact and Neo considered jumping out the nearest window right then and there, until the smaller of the two spoke. "Goodness darling, you look so stressed out. Come inside and tell me what's wrong, okay?"

 

            Neo, too wrapped up in his own circle of self doubt and anxiety to reply, followed Mettaton as he walked back inside, directing Neo to sit on the couch that filled most of the living room. They both sat down, half facing each other, Mettaton still giving Neo that concerned look from earlier that made Neo want to hide his face.

 

            After a few moments of silence, Neo word vomited in a rush to explain himself. "I came to see you because it's been a w-while since we saw each other and you haven't really spoken to me at all since th-then and I thought maybe you just didn't want to see me anymore which is okay I was j-just wondering I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time I was just-"

 

            "Neo, honey please slow down for me. I can't understand a word you're saying."

 

            Neo took a deep breath, and then another, and then found himself unable to pick up where he left off.

 

            "When was the last time you slept?" Mettaton was referring to powering down while charging, rather than staying awake while charging. One could rely on the latter to stay powered on constantly for weeks, but without sleep it was hard to ever relax. Much like humans, they needed time to shut down every now and then.

 

            Neo took another deep breath. "Sixteen days."

 

            Mettaton looked absolutely horrified. "Darling! What did I tell you? We spoke about you getting enough rest before, didn't we? Oh my goodness, no wonder you look so anxious."

 

            "It's f-fine, I've been charging, and drinking a bit of caffeine every now and then, so it's fine, don't worry about it-"

 

            "She let you have caffeine?! In this state?"

 

            Mettaton's sharp tone threw Neo off even more. He felt like leaving immediately, but couldn't find the motivation to stand up and do it. "I'm s-sorry Mettaton, I don't want to worry you so don't think ab-bout it, please-"

 

            "I bet Alphys has been staying up almost as much as you, too. I cannot leave you two alone, or you just destroy yourselves, I mean really-"

 

            Mettaton broke out of his rant when he happened to look over at Neo, who was almost hyperventilating. He frowned and leant forward, touching his hand to the top of Neo's, which was clenched tightly on his lap. "I'm sorry for shouting, darling. It's okay."

 

            Neo nodded weakly and Mettaton gently touched his forehead to Neo's, his fingers gently stroking the top of Neo's hand. Neo calmed down considerably after that, even if having Mettaton close was a little bit awkward for him.

 

            "Um, Mettaton? Can I ask a question?" Neo mumbled softly.

 

            "You already did, but feel free to ask another, darling."

 

            Neo paused and blinked. "Um, w-why haven't we spoken in a week? You used to come over every day, so..."

 

            Their foreheads were still together, so Neo noticed when Mettaton shifted his gaze to look away from the robot. "It's been a little hectic."

 

            "Are you busy? I can go, if-"

 

            "No darling," Mettaton tapped his head with his spare hand. "it's hectic in here. Forgive me for not letting you know sooner."

 

            From words barely above a whisper, they settled back into relative silence for a short while. Neo was the one to break the silence. "Do you want to go somewhere, maybe?"

 

            Mettaton closed his eye and hummed, spare hand dancing on the top of Neo's cannon arm. "That sounds absolutely wonderful. Do you have anywhere in mind?"

 

            Neo gently shook his head, just enough to move so that their foreheads were still touching. "I don't know many places to go."

 

            Mettaton hummed again thoughtfully. "I know someone I want you to meet, actually. I’m overdue for a visit." Mettaton laced his hand with Neo's before he stood up, giving it a light squeeze before excusing himself to get dressed.

 

##

 

            The two robots stood outside the front door of a modest looking home, painted with warm yellows and oranges, with a garden that could make most jealous out the front. Neo had been trailing just behind Mettaton the entire walk, only now moving to his side to get a good look at the place. They stood on the porch just an arm's length from the door, and Mettaton turned to Neo to speak.

 

            "It's a lovely house, isn't it? It could be more colourful, but they like it this way."

 

            Neo nodded, but he was more curious about who they were meeting.

 

            "Alright, don't be nervous, they're both sweethearts."

 

            _Oh god, more than one?_

 

            Mettaton reached out, giving the door a firm few knocks. They heard shuffling inside for less than half a minute before the door swung open. In front of them stood a monster woman, matching their height. She was a goat like creature with fur as white and clean as new snow, with a warm smile on her lips. Neo noted how her red eyes lit up with excitement upon seeing Mettaton.

 

            "Oh goodness! Frisk has missed you so much, Mettaton!" She looked over to Neo, who was on edge from meeting someone new, his eyes cast downward. "Are you Mettaton's friend? Come in, both of you. I just finished preparing lunch, so you're just in time." The woman stepped back from the door and allowed Mettaton to walk in without hesitation, Neo trailing after him very closely. "So are you going to introduce us, Mettaton?"

 

            Mettaton smiled back at her warmly, a positive vibe flowing throughout the room. "Toriel, this is Neo, and Neo, this is Toriel." Neo waved weakly and smiled nervously. "Neo is living with Alphys right now, and is a little bit shy, but he'll warm up to you quickly."

 

            Toriel nodded, looking back at Neo. "It's wonderful to meet you, my child." She reached out a paw slowly, gesturing for a hand shake. "There's no need to be nervous, we're a very calm household."

 

            From the other room, a small child came running out. They practically leapt at Mettaton, hugging his waist firmly. Mettaton gave them a pat on the head. "Hello, Frisk." Mettaton knelt down to be on their level. "How are you? It's been a long time, darling."

 

            "[I'm great! I missed you, though!]" Frisk signed back, hand movements fluid. Neo noticed he could read sign language, a fact that surprised himself. He figured Frisk wasn't deaf considering how they didn't seem to be reading Mettaton's lips, but considered if he should use signs anyway. Frisk turned to him while he was considering it and cocked their head to the side. "[We haven't met before. What's your name?]"

 

            "Goodness my child, it is good manners to introduce yourself before asking such blunt questions." Toriel chided. The child frowned for a split second before picking up where they left off.

 

            "[I'm Frisk.]" They spelled that part on their fingers before switching to the shorthand sign for it. "[You read very fast. It's nice to meet you.]"

 

            Neo signed back, attempting to meet Frisk's speed, but found himself going a little slowly due to his nervousness making his hand a little unsteady. "[My name is Neo, I'm Mettaton's friend. It's nice to meet you.]" Frisk laughed, it was very quiet, with their hand over their mouth and a little shake to show that they were laughing. Neo found it very different to the overdramatic way Mettaton would laugh, or even the giggle fits Alphys had. It was interesting.

 

            "[Thank you, but you don't need to sign for me if it makes you uncomfortable. I can hear.]" Frisk trailed a line down their throat with a finger. "[I don't speak. But hearing is fine.]"

 

            Neo relaxed a little more at that, enjoying the way Frisk emoted with their entire body as they signed. They were a really adorable kid, and probably the first kid Neo had met, when he thought about it. "How do you know Mettaton, Frisk?"

 

            "That is a good question," Mettaton interrupted, patting Neo on the back. "one that will take a while to answer, Tori just whispered in my ear that we should be having lunch right about now, so why don't we talk over lunch?"

 

            Neo straightened up and nodded at Mettaton. "Oh-okay. That sounds good." He spun around to Toriel. "Thank you for your hospitality."

 

            Toriel just waved it off, literally, waving her paw and looking a little comically bashful. "Oh, you're so sweet. It's no trouble at all."

 

            So Toriel lead the group to her dining table, a modest little set up just outside the kitchen. She pulled up extra chairs for Mettaton and Neo to sit on, setting out a set of plates for each of them. She served out what looked like a roast chicken and a garden salad, helping herself to the salad. Frisk served themselves and Mettaton took about the same amount as Frisk, Neo awkwardly took a small serving of garden salad and poured some water out of the jug sitting on the table.

 

            "I'm so glad you came over, the school holidays tend to be more quiet than usual with just Frisk and I at home all the time." Toriel chatted in between bites of salad. She threw a glance in the way of Neo's plate and looked concerned. "Do you have enough? I'm not sure how much you need to eat, but please feel free."

 

            "Neo's a social eater." Mettaton explained, he took a bite of the roast chicken, making a satisfied "mm" sound. "Tori, you really are the best cook. Nothing beats your home made food, darling."

 

            "You charmer." Toriel grinned back. "Feel free to eat-a-ton."

 

            Mettaton narrowed his eyes for a moment. "Was that..." He slapped his forehead. "I cannot believe..."

 

            Toriel giggled, a paw covering her mouth just barely. Neo joined in and Frisk had a smug look on their face. Puns seemed to break the ice very nicely.

 

            After the laughter slowed down, Neo piped up, feeling confident in the situation for whatever reason. "So, um, if you don't mind me asking...can we talk about how you two know Mettaton? If that's okay, that is..."

 

            Toriel nodded enthusiastically but Frisk was the one to spark up conversation. "[You know about the underground, don't you? You seem like a monster like Mettaton, so you must know.]"

 

            Neo grimaced. "I'm uh, relatively new. I was made a few months ago."

 

            Frisk's mouth made a little 'o'. "[So you came after we broke the barrier...that's interesting. How much do you know?]"

 

            "Not much at all...it might just be easier if you explain everything."

 

            Frisk nodded. "[Okay, that's easy. Back when humans and monsters lived separately, I fell down a hole in Mt Ebott, the place where they have that huge statue now, and it dropped me in the underground. A lot happened, but I met Mettaton at the peak of his career underground. He was an idol. Most of the underground loved him, and everyone knew him.]"

 

            "Please, darling, you flatter me." Mettaton sighed, a hint of nostalgia in his tone.

 

            "[At that time, Mettaton was made by Alphys to kill humans. We met because he tried to kill me a few times.]"

 

            Neo cringed, shooting Mettaton a look. Mettaton verified Frisk's statement with a shrug. "It was complicated, dear."

 

            "[It's okay. We don't have any hard feelings about it. I think most of my friends have tried to kill me at some point. It's sort of our thing.]" Frisk shook their head. "[Anyway, what's important is that Mettaton didn't kill me, and we kept in touch once we left the underground.]"

 

            Neo took a few seconds for the story to sink in before he spoke up. "That was...not what I expected." Neo noticed Mettaton glancing at Neo’s cannon arm. He moved his gaze away as soon as he accidentally made eye contact with Neo. Neo chose to ignore it. “How did you end up on Mt Ebbott anyway? Isn’t that really high up for a kid?”

 

            Toriel grimaced at Neo’s question and he felt like he’d stepped over a line. “Neo, that’s a little bit…” Toriel began, but Frisk cut them off.

           

            “[Completely fine. It’s was bound to come up, mom.]”

 

            Toriel didn’t seem to agree, but didn’t make any move to shift the conversation. It felt like she was leaving it to Frisk to decide how much to disclose. “[I don’t remember much about my life before Mt Ebott, but it wasn’t good. I ran away from home, and that’s how I fell.]”

 

            Neo bit his lip. “I’m sorry.”

 

            Frisk didn’t share his discomfort, something bright sparkling in their eyes. “[Don’t need to be. It’s not something that turned out badly for anyone, is it?]”

 

            Neo grinned in response. “That’s a great way of looking at it.”

 

            Something in the tone of the room changed as Frisk knit their eyebrows and gave Neo a long, hard look. Enough time had passed before they began to stare that it likely wasn’t about the Mt Ebott story, but Neo felt himself growing uncomfortable anyway.

 

            “[So you said you were relatively new…does that make you a full robot?]”

 

            “Uh, yeah, i-is that w-weird?” Neo shifted.

 

            “[Nope, just…]” Frisk looked up and down their form, pausing on the canon for just a moment. “[New. It’s new to me.]”

 

            “My child, you’re making him nervous.” Toriel chided. Frisk frowned apologetically.

 

            “[Sorry.]”

 

            “It’s f-fine, I’m always uncomfortable so-“

 

            Frisk giggled at his response, despite Neo just being honest. The rest of the meal passed with idle chatter, and afterwards Frisk lead them into the lounge room. They handed Mettaton a brush and waited for Mettaton to sit down on the unexpectedly large lounge before hopping up on his lap and having their hair brushed. Neo watched with keen interest at the way Mettaton played with the child’s hair, brushing it straight, teasing it up, twisting it and then brushing it straight again. They repeated this process for a while as Neo watched, before Frisk looked over to Neo.

 

            They noticed Neo staring and patted their lap twice, beckoning him over. They turned to the side and picked up another brush from the lounge as Neo sat in front of it, following Frisk’s hand signals to sit down facing away from them. Frisk began to brush down Neo’s hair, the brush moving with surprising ease despite the way it usually stood up. Neo closed his eyes and his voice threatened to begin purring from the relaxing, soft feeling. The soft mumblings of the news could be heard from the television across the room, and Neo and Mettaton spent a few hours just relaxing with Frisk. Afterwards they all went for walk, Toriel staying behind.

 

            “[What’s this, Mettaton?]” Frisk had asked, pointing to a tree they’d never seen before. Mettaton shrugged.

 

            “They’re Azaleas.” Neo piped up, examining the flowering tree closely. He hummed. “I’m not sure if there’s a sign for that.”

           

            Frisk nodded, their attention quickly turning to something else. The walk went on like that, Frisk commenting on things now and then or asking questions. The conversation eventually rolled around to Neo’s home life, where he detailed what it was like living with Alphys. After that, Mettaton explained the synopsis of his next show (mentioning how his manager always hated when he did that) and even recited a few lines from his script.

 

            Eventually they returned home after treating Frisk to afternoon tea at a café Mettaton liked, thanking Toriel for lunch earlier and promising to return another day to hang out again before school started. Mettaton walked Neo back to Alphys’ lab, lingering for a few moments before waving him off. That night, Neo dreamt about taking Mettaton back to the café by themselves.


	2. Patterns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I did something a little different with the formatting this time. Still using timeskips, though.

Neo started noticing a trend with Mettaton. He was often late or completely absent to any event that wasn't handled by one of his managers. This wasn't much of a surprise, since he had to have three managers just to be organised in the first place, but Neo had a tendency to worry about him. That's how he ended up outside Mettaton’s apartment, keycard in his hand and a bouquet of flowers resting in the crook of his cannon arm. Juggling the flowers with only one hand was difficult enough when he was fumbling to swipe the keycard to open Mettaton's apartment, but the slight nervous tremble only increased his troubles.

He hadn't planned on using the keycard, but Alphys told him it was best to be prepared. After several minutes of knocking and waiting, Neo was thanking Alphys for convincing him. Click, the door slid open and Neo stepped inside, careful to keep the ludicrously sized bouquet out of the way of the door frame. Once inside he stepped a little more gingerly than normal, calling out Mettaton's name tentatively. There was no reply, so he set down the keycard on a small coffee table and walked to Mettaton's room. He let himself in and peered inside.

Mettaton was there, laying on his side with his back to Neo on his bed (king size, naturally). "Mettaton? Are you awake?" He took a step inside, the movement making Mettaton shift a bit. He sat up quickly after that and turned to Neo, holding a thin sheet around his waist. His eye was a bit droopy and dull, hair strewn about and had a generally vacant expression, like he was there but his mind was somewhere else.

He glanced up at Neo, his mouth curled into a smile, then into a contemplative frown, and then pushed into a grimace. "Come sit down, darling."

Neo did as he was told, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and holding the flowers out for Mettaton. His smile looked a little more genuine for a moment as he took in their scent, accepting them with practiced grace. "These are beautiful, what's the occasion?"

"There's no occasion, I was just...I wanted to make sure you were okay?" The boy shuffled a bit with a hopeful smile on his face.

"Thank you, darling. I'll put them in a vase when I get up."

"So, why didn't you show up to repairs yesterday?" Neo asked, not skipping a beat. Mettaton was a little off put by the question.

"Are these forget me nots? They look like it."

"Half and half, but, did something happen?"

Mettaton hopped out of bed, stretching out his legs and finding his center of gravity. "Oh, I think I'll go put these away now, actually." He picked up the flowers off the bed and walked around it, out the door. Neo chased after him, catching a small glimpse of distress painted across Mettaton's face before he turned away from him completely.

"Mettaton, you're dodging my questions...Are you alright?"

Mettaton was absently unwrapping the flowers and placing them in a vase, replacing the older flowers that were there before them. "It's normal for me to miss repairs, isn't it?"

"I just had a bad feeling, that maybe..." Neo paused. "You're still avoiding the question."

Mettaton sighed, then spun on his heel, taking Neo's face with his hands and leaning into a kiss. Neo enjoyed the few short seconds it lasted, warmth spreading throughout his chest. Mettaton broke the kiss after what seemed like an eternity, never once growing rough or even very deep. He rested his forehead on Neo's, eye still closed. Neo opened his eye that he didn't notice had even closed.

"Please, Neo...I don't want to think about it."

Despite his heart jumping for joy, the robot felt like he'd only been kissed so he'd shut up, and that didn't sit right with him. "D-Don't-" He felt his mouth moving without thinking. "Don't kiss me unless you mean it." It wasn't loud, but his own words rang in his head for a while. Mettaton's eye fluttered open and he looked devastated, the fake grin wiped off his face. "Neo, I..." He scrunched up his face. Instead of finding the words to answer, Mettaton kissed him again. It wasn't quick, panicked or desperate like Neo had felt in him the last two times they had kissed. It was warm, passionate, slow and above all, comfortable. Neo felt one hand move through his hair and felt more safe and content than he knew was possible. The two took their time before they moved away mutually, Neo's heart aflutter, Mettaton feeling the same kind of nerves he experienced before a show, but far more intense. It was an adrenaline rush.

"Do you want to stay for a while?" Mettaton offered, voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes please."

Mettaton giggled a little at his eager and honest response. "Thank you." He took the pointy robot's hand and lead him back to the bedroom where they both sat on Mettaton's bed. A few minutes of comfortable quiet passed, Mettaton's hands playing with Neo's own, his eyes glancing over to the cannon now and then.

"So, do you want to talk about it?"

Mettaton froze again, as he often did, biting his lip as he thought it over. "It's...A friend of mine...my friend...that is to say, uh," he paused, and as he spoke up again Neo noticed his voice was quieter than before. "I saw a friend of mine for the first time in a long time." Neo nodded, a small 'mm' sound coming from his mouth. Mettaton's smile brightened a little, appreciating Neo's enthusiasm for listening to him. He paced through his words slowly, Neo never looking like he wanted him to speed up at all. He was just there and listening, their hands interlocked.

"I wanted to say hello to them, and so I did, but they...don't recognise me anymore. And that's okay, I, I can deal with that. So I told them it was me, right?" A pause. "Except I couldn't do it." Another small nod, a reassuring squeeze of the hand as the glambot's hand stiffened. "So I ran away." Mettaton's voice wavered, breaking just slightly. Neo noticed, jaw stiffening up, Mettaton noticed too, so he took a deep breath and blinked a few times. "Sorry darling, I-"

Neo just gave Mettaton's hand another light squeeze, giving him the most calm and comfortable eye contact they'd ever shared. The two felt a strong surge of understanding for one another and Mettaton was happy just remaining silent for a while. Neo didn't mind either, of course.

After their pause, Mettaton's face was a little flushed as he asked "darling, do you mind if I...". Neo noticed Mettaton glancing at his lips and shook his head. Mettaton leant forward, closing the small gap rather slowly and left a small smooch on Neo. His eyes danced with the temptation of doing something more, but he left it at that. Neo was already flushed and fiddling with Mettaton's hand from a simple kiss on the lips. Mettaton's heart swelled.

"You're too much, darling." The glambot giggled, hand held delicately to his mouth. "But thank you, for listening to me for a while."

"It's no problem at all, Mettaton!" He didn't need to look at the sparkling of Neo's eyes to know he absolutely meant it. "You'll be able to tell them soon, I promise."

The taller robot's certainty translated into Mettaton's own determination. "Thank you darling." His spare hand gave Neo a light tap. "I don't feel like moping around anymore. Let's go watch something."

The two spent the afternoon watching movies, fingers entwined in each other's hands. Anything from Mettaton's own movies to obscure anime series, they shared their passions with each other for hours. Darkness rolled around and Neo felt it was time to leave, giving Mettaton a quick hug before he made for the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, darling."

Neo raised an eyebrow.

"For repairs, remember?"

Neo slapped his forehead and groaned. "Right, I was meant to be dropping in for just a while...damn it."

"The doctor probably won't mind." Mettaton assured him. Neo and Mettaton drifted out the front door in conversation anyway. As Neo stepped onto the elevator and pressed the control panel inside, he grew timid for a moment.

"Thanks for spending today with me."

"My pleasure, darling."

"Oh, and one more thing," the doors of the elevator began to slide close. "Napstablook told me they don't think their cousin did anything wrong, and they love him very much." The doors slid shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, two chapters in one day?   
> Yeah, because I wrote these two at the same time. One on my pc, and one on my tablet. That's why the formatting is a little weird. 
> 
> I wrote this on a train so the pacing is a little weird but I couldn't work out how to fix it? Sorry everyone. Hopefully it's okay regardless.


	3. I'm so sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im posting this at 4am r i p   
> i always knew id write a mettaton and blook meet up post pacifist fluff but i never knew itd be in the middle of a mettacest AU welcome to hell

 

Mettaton felt like he was in shock. His mind raced with what his cousin had told Neo.

 

Their cousin didn't do anything wrong.

They love him very much.

 _They love him_.

Mettaton was in tears before he knew it. Guilt, relief and years of repressed feelings washed over him, flowing down his face in tiny droplets. Still standing in his doorway, he wiped them away as they came, finding it bittersweet that the form he'd always dreamed of was something that made his emotions so much more exposed and raw to the people around him.

When he was able to think straight, he went inside and cancelled all of his plans for the next day.

 

##

 

A loud crash from downstairs had Alphys scrambling out of bed, flying down the stairs as she pulled on her lab coat mid run. "Neo? What was that noise?"

"I don't know!" came his reply. Judging from the sound, the hikkikomori was probably still in his room until he heard it, too. The two ran into the front room at almost the same time. They both set their eyes on the source of the sound, Mettaton, who was swearing loudly at cords that had gotten tangled around his boot.

"Mettaton? You're here early-"

"Are you fucking serious!? Every time, every god damn-"

Mettaton was still focusing on the cord. A computer lay beside the tangle, monitor smashed. "S-Stop kicking it Mettaton, or you're gonna make it worse-" Alphys cried.

Mettaton paid them no mind as he kicked the last of the cords away. "Unbelievable, if this mess got tidied every now and then, MAYBE I could walk around the lab withou-oh my god hello Alphys. How long have you been there?"

As an actor in romantic films, Mettaton was great at eye contact. As he was just now learning, he wasn't great at awkward eye contact. Awkward eye contact that went on for a long, long time. A really long time.

"Mettaton I was listening-"

"Repairs! I'm here for repairs, like every week." Great job Mettaton you cut her off, real stellar performance there sweetheart you absolutely nailed it. "That thing we do. But yesterday. But I wasn't there yesterday." On fire today, darling. You're a mess.

"Why weren't you there, by the way?" Alphys asked.

"Uh, to tell the truth-" Oh shit is that Neo. Not ready to talk about that yet. Not with Neo. Not going to cry in front of Alphys. Again. Absolutely not going to cry around Neo. "I was asleep." Smooth. You can save this yet.

Alphys looked a bit upset. "You just slept in?"

Abort mission.

"Hey Alphys why don't we go downstairs and do some diagnostics you know how I love those-"

"You hate diagnostics-"

Mettaton laughed loudly, and forced. "Oh doctor you're so funny now lets go to the diagnostics room okay? Okay." He pushed Alphys downstairs and waved to Neo. "Don't wait up~!"

Once downstairs, Alphys piped up again. "Mettaton, what is going on?"

He grit his teeth and whispered next to her. "I am a hot mess Alphy and if I cry in front of Neo I'm going to lock myself in that new cupboard in my apartment kitchen and live there for the rest of my life." Once they had slipped inside the diagnostic room (just like any other room in the lab, but the computers here beeped more) Mettaton slid down the wall and onto the floor. He groaned loudly. Much louder than he meant to.

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong or-"

"Neo knows Napstablook! Little Blooky, like really knows him, and they've spoken about me! And I have no idea how much either of them know."

"What's the problem with that? Isn't that good?"

"Neo told me yesterday, he said that-" Mettaton's fan whirled, tears stinging in the corner of his eye. "Blooky doesn't hate m-me. Not even close. After everything I did to them." Mettaton wiped his face. "After everything, when I was so selfish and only thought of myself, they..." Mettaton couldn't hold back anymore as he let out a pained sob, crying softly into his lap.

Alphys shuffled over, patting his back and hair as he let it out. "And Neo said, um, his exact words, 'they love him very much', do you think that...Blooky h-heard us talking sometime?"

"It's possible."

Mettaton hugged his middle, chest aching. "I love them so much, Alphy."

"I know you do."

"I've been so horrible. I left them all alone-"

"It's not as simple as that and you know it."

"They need to know I love them too. I have to tell them. I just don't know how..."

"You do." Alphys squeezed his shoulder. "It's just stage fright. But you will be able to talk to them."

Mettaton sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course. That's how love works." She rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. "Do you want to run diagnostics before Neo comes to check on us? I'd hate if both of you were crying at once."

Mettaton nodded, shuffling over to Alphys' work desk. "Does Neo cry over me?"

Alphys looked hesitant to answer. "Like, maybe sometimes..." Mettaton teared up. "Hey! Not what we're aiming for, please don't cry anymore."

"He's so sweet, Alphy. He's so, so sweet." Mettaton sniffled, emotional and raw. "I love him too."

"I'm glad you do." Alphys began working on sorting wires. "He loves you a lot as well."

"Does he talk to you about us?"

"Bits and pieces."

"Did he tell you we kissed again?"

Alphys nearly dropped the box of wires she was holding. "You whAT-"

"Don't worry, I didn't um, it was fine. We were fine - are fine. It's fine." Mettaton leant over, pointing to the cable Alphys was looking for. "He's so honest and kind and shy, I want to go further but he looks so nervous, you know?"

"Undyne and I were like that at first, so I understand."

"How are you two by the way?"

Alphys paused, visibly swooning. Still madly in love. "I'm introducing her to the idea of staying in the lab for a few days at a time...We might even m-move in together...Undyne loves the surface, even if, um, never mind. Her police work is going well, too."

"The exchange program Asgore set up?"

"Yeah, she's whipping the humans into shape." Alphys returned to typing on one of the displays on the side of the room. "It's why I think she should move in. If she could return home to somewhere where housework and bills were shared, she'd have a lot easier time at work. Less things to worry about."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. She'd be a good influence on Neo as well."

"Do you think maybe…they wouldn’t get along?"

"No? Do you?"

Alphys grimaced. "It...was a possibility. I don’t want either of them to be uncomfortable."

"They'll be fine...Undyne is loud, but Neo is adaptable. Trust him, it'll work out. If he dislikes her, I'll talk it out with Undyne for you. She doesn't think of me as a close friend, but I don't think she'd mind."

"Thank you, that would be really helpful."

"My pleasure, darling." Mettaton tapped on his thigh. "You do enough for me, I need to give back too." Alphys opened up a panel on Mettaton's back with a nearly invisible seam. Mettaton plugged himself in and grew a little foggy as his system was scanned for error reports, crash dumps and anything irregular.

"It's very early for you, isn't it?" Alphys glanced at the clock on her display. Not even ten a.m.

"I'm going to see Blook after this, so I wanted an early start."

The door to the room swung open (a rare hinged door in a maze of sliding ones) and Neo poked his head around the corner. It reminded Mettaton of when they met, eliciting a giggle. "Is everything okay Mettaton?"

"Yes dear, I'm quite alright." Mettaton hummed, drumming his fingers.

"You look busy, so I'll come back," Mettaton shook his head at that. "or not..." The glambot patted the spot on the desk next to him. "Sit there? Okay, I can do that."

Neo hopped up next to him and Mettaton laid his hand on top of the taller robot. Neo flinched at the touch but looked happy enough to keep it up. Alphys noticed the subtle contact and gave Neo a warm smile.

##

 

_“Stars don’t ‘get nervous’, Alphys. We are appropriately bashful at times, and nothing more.”_

Mettaton’s own words rang in his mind as he shuffled on his feet, glaring at the familiar scenery of waterfall. Blook was one of the monsters who had remained underground, their house the same as it ever was, seemingly untouched by the passage of time. Mettaton on the other hand was a nervous surface dwelling mess, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Cool notes of blue and a calming soundscape filled with ringing insects did nothing to ease Mettaton’s fears, especially when he looked at his old home. He resisted the urge to put off everything to tomorrow, and firmly knocked on the door in front of him.

“oh…is that a visitor? I uh…didn’t expect a-anyone…h-hold on…”

Mettaton’s synthetic stomach lurched and he willed himself to stay put despite the way his head spun and heart ached. The door swung open, slowly, pulled by a gentle force. Napstablook looked up at him, hovering just below his eye level.

Being face to face after all this time, Mettaton didn’t know what to do or what he felt. The last time they had met it was just briefly in the capital, it wasn’t this forward, direct or personal.

“Hello Blooky,” he was speaking, that’s a pleasant surprise. And his voice didn’t seem to be breaking up, either. “it’s me.”

Napstablook frowned for a moment. “H-Hello Mettaton…w-why are you here?”

Mettaton felt a strong surge of pain in his chest. “It’s y-your cousin, Blooky…”

Napstablook blinked. Then seemed to take a breath. “You’re not mads, so you’re… but you…moved away…right…?”

“Yeah, um,” Mettaton held his arms up, showing himself off. It wasn’t flashy or forced, just sort of weak and quiet. “It’s your cousin, I’m Mettaton now.”

Napstablook was quiet for a minute. Then they began to tear up. Then they started to cry. Mettaton felt himself tearing up too. “Don’t cry, Blooky, or I’m gonna…” tears began to roll down his cheeks. “I’m gonna cry t-too.” He leapt forward and wrapped his arms around the quivering ghost, trembling just slightly. “I’m so sorry, Blook, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry and I’ll make it up to you…” he babbled on like that for a while, apologising for all the time he spent too nervous to confront them.

Napstablook eventually welcomed them inside, and the two found themselves laying on the floor beside each other. Mettaton examined the ceiling as he wiped away the last of his tears. Napstablook eventually spoke up, mumbling from his spot next to Mettaton. “I missed you a lot.”

“I missed you too, Blooky.”

“So…are you a star now?”

“Yeah.”

Napstablook closed their eyes. “That must be nice….i’m proud of you…..”

“thank you, Blooky.”

“……..hey mettaton?”

“Yes?”

“are you um,” Napstablook paused, opening their eyes to stare at the ceiling. “a boy now?”

Mettaton swallowed. “Yeah,” he tapped his fingers on the floor just gently. “I guess I am, huh?”

Napstablook closed their eyes again. “That’s good.”

Mettaton settled back into silence, feeling the weight of the day’s pressures lift off him. Despite Napstablook always saying that when they lay on the floor they felt like garbage, Mettaton enjoyed laying beside Blooky immensely.

“Do you remember when we used to do this all the time?”

“yeah”

“And how you’d tell me about your day, even if not much happened…and about your forum, and your music…are you still making music Blooky?”

“yeah…it’s probably not as good as the music you’re making….”

“On the contrary, sweetheart, I miss your music. I wish I could hear it more often.”

“oh, Mettaton, y-you don’t have to say that…”

“It’s true, Blooky. Do you want to make music with me some time?”

“I’d just weigh you down, I-“

“Blooky, be honest about your feelings sweetheart. If you don’t want to work with me it’s fine, but I’d hate to miss out on your talent if you wanted to share it with me.”

“um,” Napstablook took a little while to think. “I think I can…do that…”

“That’s wonderful news, sweetheart. Make sure to show me your recent stuff some time, okay?”

“O-Okay…Do you want to…stay here for a while?”

Mettaton hummed. “I’d love that, sweetheart." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise ill take more time with the next chapter if I can im just 
> 
> also if I used he/him for napstablook at any time, spray me with cold water and point out my mistake please


	4. Wanna go on a date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Read the notes for some warnings about this chapter if you might need it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey um I just want to quickly give people a heads up: I've been hinting at the idea of monsterphobia in this fic for a while now, and this chapter has a lot of those themes. There's also some homophobia, slurs, and mentions of violence. If this is going to upset you really badly you can skip the chapter.   
> I hope I handled these topics delicately enough! Constructive criticism is very much welcome but keep in mind I've been a victim of homophobia before so I write a bit from my own experiences here.   
> Thanks for reading the notes, enjoy the chapter!

 

                For a star, confidence is everything. Of course, not every star has endless confidence, but as Mettaton often told Neo “fake it until you make it”. This very same advice lead to Neo stumbling into the room Mettaton and Alphys where having a casual conversation in, a pair of gaudy sunglasses on his face and a small bouquet in one hand.

                Mettaton and Alphys turned to the sound of Neo’s shuffling boots, Mettaton spinning on an office chair and Alphys simply turning her head. Neo leant against the door frame in as cocky a position as he could muster, cannon arm pressed into his hip and his other arm holding him against the door frame. Neo could feel his feigned confidence losing steam, and he’d only just entered the room.

                “Mettaton!”

                “Yes darling?”

                Ah yes, where to go from here. “Uh-“ He choked momentarily, sucking in a deep breath to hide it. “D-Date. Do you want to go out with me? On a date.” Neo felt like he was going to die of embarrassment, heat growing on his cheeks.

                Mettaton took a moment to compose himself and stifled a laugh before standing up to hold out his hand for Neo. Neo removed his hand from the door frame, standing up straight, to take Mettaton’s hand.

                “I would be delighted, beautiful.”

                Neo’s head swam with the delight of taking the first step to inviting Mettaton out somewhere, gazing lovingly at Mettaton with stars in his eye. Mettaton leant forward and tapped the sunglasses on his face. “I don’t think you need these indoors, darling.”                

                Neo’s face became flushed even brighter as he fumbled to take them off, mumbling to Mettaton. “Mm, I, c-couldn’t see all that well.”

                Mettaton snorted. “You’re too precious. Give me five minutes with the good doctor, and then we can go out somewhere nice, okay?”

                Neo’s eye widened a little in surprise, his eyelashes fluttering as he blinked. “Oh, that quickly? Uh, five minutes!” He turned on his heel and ran downstairs, leaving Mettaton with Alphys.

                Mettaton swung his legs, spinning in slow circles on his little office chair. “Same time in two weeks, Alphys?”

                Alphys was in the middle of humming to herself as she sorted through a box of parts on her lap. “Yeah, sure thing. It’s going to be a long time, so take care of yourself while I’m away okay?” Alphys frowned. “I-If something happened that Neo couldn’t fix, I-I don’t know…”

                Mettaton shot her a warm smile, placing one hand on her knee to give a comforting squeeze. “Don’t worry about a thing, darling. I’ll take it easy so you can relax.” He drummed his fingers, still resting on Alphys’ leg. “Which raises another issue.”

                Alphys’ eyelashes fluttered a bit as she cocked her head to the side. “It does?”

                Ex nodded, wheeling back across the room to idly spin on the chair again. “It does indeed, where’s Neo going to be staying?”

                Alphys shrugged as if it were obvious, eyes trained back on the box. “He’ll be in the lab, where he always is. I’m not concerned about security, the place locks on its own when he’s the only one inside, so.”

                Ex furrowed his brow, clicking his tongue. “I’m not sure how to put this, but…” He sighed, brushing a hand through his hair. “I don’t think Neo should be left alone for two weeks.”

                Alphys gave a moment of pause. “Why is that?” She went back to sorting through the box, her movements significantly slower than before, her mind focused on the conversation.

                “Well, sweetheart keep this between us okay? He seems likely to just lock himself in the lab and not speak to anyone for days on end, which I simply can’t abide by.” Mettaton laced his hands together. “But, I could…”

                “You could…?”

                “Hmm…” He mumbled, as if he had not entirely decided what he wanted to do before he spoke, gaze cast downward. “If I get up a little earlier for travel…I could…yeah, it can work.” His attention turned back to Alphys, voice returning to something a little more confident. “I can stay in the lab for the two weeks. Just, you know, make sure he’s keeping busy.”

                “Oh, Mettaton I-I d-don’t know, you don’t h-have to – “

                Mettaton gave her a firm look. “Staying with Neo for two weeks isn’t exactly going to be torture, Doctor.” His firm frown turned into a slightly giddy grin. “It could be very interesting, actually.”

                Alphys considered Mettaton’s comment and her face grew red. “Mettaton!” She crossed her arms and turned her head away. “O-Okay, if you want to do it I have no reason to stop you.”

                He smiled, standing up to give her a formal kiss on the forehead. “You enjoy your two weeks, dear!” He lingered for a moment, a light giggle escaping him. “I’ll enjoy mine.”

                “Don’t be gross, Mettaton.”

                “Don’t be a wet blanket, Alphys.”

                Mettaton gave a quick wave of his hand before skipping out the door, heels clacking rhythmically against the tiled floors of Alphys’ lab. A short trip down the hall later, he was standing outside of Neo’s room. A minute or so ticked by with only the soft shuffling sounds of Neo in his room and the hum of the lab and Mettaton’s fans keeping him company before the door slid open. Neo stepped out, making an effort to obscure Mettaton’s view of his room.

                Ex noticed, glancing over his shoulder. The room looked messy, typical, but it was amusing that Neo found it to be embarrassing. Mettaton’s mind briefly remembered a time where Neo didn’t have enough stuff of his own to create a mess of belongings, feeling a giddy warmth in his chest as Neo gave him a keen grin.

                “Your room looks a lot nicer these days.”

                Neo gave him an incredulous look in reply. “I-Is it that messy? I meant to clean up, but I got distracted – “

                “No, no.” Mettaton shook his head, taking hold of Neo’s hand and giving it a little swing. “I’m not critiquing you, sweetheart. I like it that way.”

                Neo furrowed his eyebrows, giving Mettaton’s hand a squeeze as he looked at him in disbelief. “O…kay… if you say so.” He brushed off his confusion, hopping over to Mettaton’s side. “Um, so there’s a place I want to go. Is that okay?”

                “Sounds great.”

                “Let me know,” Neo paused, his grip tightening on Ex’s hand for just a moment. “let me know if you get bored, o-okay?”

                “I doubt I will.”

                Neo’s smile looked a little uneasy.

                “But I’ll be sure to tell you if I want a change of scenery, okay?”

                Neo looked a little happier at that, nodding in agreement. “Okay. Thank you.” The two took off down the hall, walking closely together even as they walked the half hour it took to find the café Neo had taken a liking to. The sun was shining but the weather was slightly cold, so Neo found himself walking a little closer to Mettaton than usual. Mettaton answered questions about his work that Neo had been wondering about for a while, stealing glances at Neo’s face every now and then. By the time they had reached the café, they were completely wrapped up in talking with each other, Neo’s voice growing louder and body language more animated as he recounted the last conversation he’d had with Napstablook.

                They took a seat just as Neo had been holding his arms out to illustrate the size of Napstablook’s discography. Mettaton grinned at Neo’s love for his cousin’s work.

                “So you two sorted out everything?” Neo had asked abruptly as his last sentence trailed off.

                Mettaton tapped his fingers on a menu that lay on the table between them. “Not quite everything, I was gone for a really long time, it’s not like a day can…” Mettaton grimaced. “well, fix everything.”

                Neo figured he’d stepped into an uncomfortable topic. “It’s not a h-huge deal to them, Mettaton, so you don’t have to worry.”

                Mettaton groaned, not in annoyance but with uncertainty. “It’s not as simple as that.” He ran a hand through his fringe. “I did something I’m not proud of, and I treated Blooky really awfully.”

                “Mettaton, it’s okay – “

                Mettaton leant forward, gently ruffling Neo’s hair, careful not to upset the style. “Thank you for worrying, darling.” He shuffled back into his seat, folding his arms on the table. “It will be okay, but it isn’t yet. I have a lot of time to make up for, and I need to start making up for it before I’m satisfied I’m doing enough.”

                Neo found Mettaton’s motivation confusing, but the confident tone in the titular robot’s voice had convinced Neo that Mettaton had made up his mind. He bit back a complaint, thinking it better to support him than go against his wishes. “I hope it goes well, Mettaton.”

                “Thank you darling.” Mettaton shot the award-winning smile he used in public, excusing himself to go and order. It only occurred to Neo after Mettaton had left the table that he didn’t tell him what he wanted to order. Not wanting to cause a fuss, he took to people watching. The café was very central, located just outside a major mall. All kinds of people passed by, mostly human, but there were a few monsters scattered about. Neo observed how monsters usually travelled in groups rather than alone, like a lot of humans did.

                His eye met with a pair staring at him from across the open walkway that ran up and down the open air food court of the mall. Despite the people wandering by, the teen’s look was trained on him. After Neo noticed, he gave them a small smile, raising up his hand to wave to them. The human’s brow furrowed and he sneered, turning to whisper to another human next to him. Neo heard the soft tap of disposable cups being placed on the table and turned to see Mettaton who was staring straight past him, over to the group of teenagers.

                “Mettaton?”

                Mettaton clicked his tongue, a dangerously irritated aura resonating from him. His hands still hovered over the top of the cups he’d just put down, just barely touching the tops of them.

                “They’re not bothering you, are they?” Mettaton asked, eye still trained on the group.

                Neo found himself growing slightly anxious. “No, they didn’t do anything.” He answered simply, mouth moving without much thought behind it.

                Mettaton’s gaze lingered on them for a few more moments before he looked down to Neo. His features instantly softened. “That’s good to hear.” Mettaton picked up his cup and took a curt sip, glancing over at the group for a few more seconds before sitting down.

                Neo wrapped his hand around his cup, his cannon arm resting on the side of it. “Is something wrong?”

                “Oh no darling, you didn’t do anything.” Mettaton said between sips, as if it were the obvious answer.

                “No, that’s not what I meant.” Neo looked over at the group for a split second, toiling over how to phrase what he wanted to ask.

                “Neo, is there a problem with them? Because I could – “

                “Would there be a problem?” Neo asked, eyes trained on his coffee cup. Mettaton’s strange mood had completely thrown him off.

                Mettaton looked as if he didn’t know how to answer the question himself, a despondent frown across his features. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

                “Mettaton.”

                Mettaton sighed, drumming his fingers against his cup. “Alright. It’s just that some people have been having…issues…with humans around this area.”

                “Some people?”

                Mettaton frowned again and shifted his gaze down to the table. “It’s nothing, she’s fine, so- “

                “Doctor Alphys?” Neo asked, his tone growing panicked.

                Mettaton grimaced. “She didn’t want to worry you.” He sighed.

                Neo felt a rush of guilt and bit his lip, looking up at Mettaton. “You don’t have to hide stuff like that from me.”

                “I wasn’t trying to hide it. It just didn’t come up.” Neo frowned in response. “Honest. I just didn’t want you to be worried about it.”

                “Mettaton, I’m not exactly going to freak out about it.”

                Mettaton sighed. “Neo, I can hear your fans running from here. You’re absolutely panicked.” Mettaton tapped on his own chest plate. “It’s practically like a human’s heartbeat. Your systems are completely over excited right now.”

                Neo touched pink, his cheeks glowing. “Is it really that loud?” He laid his hand against his chest plate and felt the vibrations. “What happened to Alphys?”

                Mettaton grimaced again. He took a sip to avoid answering.

                “Mettaton?”

                “There were a group of humans, and they followed her out of the shopping district. They said some…colourful things…and tried to hit her, but another monster found her and chased them off.”

                Neo took a moment to attempt to calm down before talking. “Was she hurt?”

                “Not much.” Mettaton took a sip to give himself a moment before he had to speak again. “A few scrapes, um, a bruise here,” he pointed to his forearm. “Sans stepped in very quickly, he told me he didn’t even have to do anything before they ran off.”

                Neo could feel himself growing angry, tapping his foot to drive off the excess energy he was getting flooded with. “Please don’t hide this from me in the future.” He felt his fist clench up. “I’m a bit…hurt…you didn’t tell me…but I understand.”

                Mettaton laid his hand on top of Neo’s and held it firmly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean for you to find out in public, do you want to go and talk to Alphys?”

                Neo shook his head for a split second before stopping. “Actually, yes.” He stood up, taking the coffee in his hand. Mettaton held his coffee with one hand and linked his free arm through Neo’s cannon arm. Walking like this, Mettaton was even closer than earlier when they had walked to the café. Neo was able to calm down somewhat with Mettaton at his side. The evening had begun to creep up on them at this stage, the sky growing dark as they had left. Ten minutes down the road and it was already very dark, with street lights flickering on here and there.

                Neo’s anxiety had settled down somewhat since they began to walk, but he still felt a tinge of unease and anger. None of it was directed at Mettaton or Alphys for keeping him out of the loop, rather, it was at himself, for making them worry about him even when the focus should have been on Alphys. To that effect, he’d been working on settling down his raging emotions the entire time, hardly speaking a word to Mettaton.

                The relative silence, interrupted only by passing cars and cicadas was broken when a voice called out from somewhere across the street. The two of them were still in a somewhat busy city area, with tall buildings lining the sky just behind them, and many small businesses dotting the street in front. At the time though, the voice was jarring enough to pull Neo’s attention.

                “Hey faggot!”

                It was nothing but a word, but it had completely drawn Neo’s attention away from himself. He looked down to Mettaton who hadn’t broken his stride, eyes locked in front.

                “Mettaton, are they-“ Neo whispered.

                “Just ignore them, darling.”

                Neo did as he was told, gripping Mettaton’s arm a little tighter. Neo and Mettaton both knew either of them could take out a human in seconds, as long as they were using human hand to hand combat. So Neo figured Mettaton wasn’t ignoring them out of fear, but offering them no response.

                “Did you hear me?”

“Hey!”

                Two voices, now. Neo cast his gaze down to Mettaton again who had shot him a cocky smile. “Noisy, aren’t they?” he whispered.

                Neo grimaced. “Yeah.” Came the quiet reply.

                The voice had come considerably closer by the time it called out again, footsteps just behind the two of them. “I didn’t know the great monster idol Mettaton was a faggot, did you?”

                “Turn the fuck around!”

                Another voice. Neo guessed the group was no larger than five. Mettaton had cast his gaze to the shadows cast by the streetlights, wondering about whether or not to turn around and confront them.

                Neo didn’t make the choice. All it took was a hand reaching out. One human had stepped forward, feeling cocky, and had gone for Mettaton’s shoulder. Neo unlinked his arm with Mettaton’s and stepped in between the human and the robot, a brilliant light flaring up from the wing-like structures on his shoulders. His cannon was up in seconds, whirring loudly as rainbow lights danced in the front of it, the external shell growing hot from the power building inside. He took a firm stance, his hand resting on top of the cannon to support it. The end of the cannon was almost pressed into the human’s face, who stood around 5’10”.

                Neo growled, his voice coming out with a distinctly metallic ring to it. The wings on his back lit up the street with their blindingly bright light. “Don’t you fucking _touch him._ ”

The human hesitated, scared out of his wits. The rest of the group that was now in sight was in a similar state of shock, one of them had even taken off and was running. The rest of the group, now four, stood frozen in shock. Neo took a step forward, the human in front of his cannon forced to move back with him. “Or I _will_ kill you.”

                The human at the cannon took a step backwards, unable to speak. Once he came to his senses, he turned and ran behind the other three humans.

                “Are you fucking insane?” One of them called out, hand clenched around his red shirt over his chest. “Violent piece of shit!”

                Neo’s cannon grew brighter in reply as he took another small step forward. “Do you want to find out how dangerous monsters _really_ are?”

                The group instantly split, once the second human began to sprint off the rest followed. Neo stayed in his ready position for at least a minute, observing how one human still had the tenacity to spit out the f slur before disappearing down an alleyway.

                Neo eventually found himself able to register what had just happened, lowering his cannon arm and beginning to cool it down and drain the power back out of it. His wings powered out next, flickering out as his head absolutely spun with adrenaline. Mettaton had been standing in front of him trying to get his attention for a while before Neo finally looked down at him with some iota of recognition in his eye.

                “Neo? Are you okay? Can you hear me?” Neo nodded meekly. “Thank goodness…” Mettaton took Neo’s hand in his. “Let’s get back to the lab, okay?”

                Neo nodded again, allowing himself to be lead off by Mettaton. The lab was very close by so the walk passed in silence until they got in the door.

                “Doctor Alphys? Are you home?” Mettaton called out, only just remembering he’d dropped his coffee earlier when he was considering where to put it. He walked across to the light switches near the door and flicked them on, leaving Neo at the door while he jogged downstairs. Alphys was, predictably, in one of her smaller rooms working on an interest project when he slid open the door and called out to her.

                “What’s up, Mettaton?”

                “Come out here, Doctor.”

                Alphys hopped up from her seat, shuffling after Mettaton. They headed back upstairs where Neo was still standing at the door, unsure of what to do with himself. His inner fans were running so quickly Alphys noticed the sound immediately, her eyes flickering down to the left over light still draining from Neo’s cannon.

                “What the hell happened?!” She yelped, running over to Neo to get a better look at the indicators along his cannon arm, then looking over his shoulders and finally settling on his face, which was flushed and dazed.

                “Neo nearly gave some humans what they deserved, but I think he overdid it!” Mettaton explained, feeling incredibly guilty whenever he looked at Neo.

                “Can you hear what I’m saying, Neo?” Alphys asked. Neo nodded. Alphys held up a claw. “Look at this please, don’t take your eye off it. Track it with both, okay?” She began to move it slowly for a few seconds, before putting it back down. “You’re just a little dazed and confused from draining your power so quickly. Do you feel like you’re waking up a bit?”

                “Doctor Alphys,” Neo mumbled. “I’m about to fall over.” Neo swayed dramatically to the side, taking a step to attempt to balance himself. Mettaton leapt forward and caught him as he swayed again. Neo wrapped his arm around Mettaton’s shoulder. “I feel…very bad.”

                “Sweetheart…”

                “How did you end up doing this, Neo?”

                Neo opened his mouth to explain before pausing, the fan in his chest picking up speed.

                “Okay, calm down before we explain, darling.” Mettaton urged.

                “Can I um, sit down?”

                Mettaton looked to Alphys, who nodded. Mettaton then had Neo lean most of his weight onto him before guiding Neo down to the floor as gently as possible, using an island counter as a backrest. Mettaton sat next to him, holding his hand with a very nurturing, concerned look overtaking his face.

                A few minutes of sitting in silence and Neo worked up the energy to speak properly, eye closed. “Um, I was walking home with Mettaton, and there was a group of humans, and they-“ he froze up as his fan began to whirr again. He picked it back up in a few seconds. “they were using some human slurs. And they r-reached f-f-for him so I-I just…” Neo grew quiet, head still spinning.

                “You’ve redirected most of your energy to one place in your body, which your system isn’t designed to do. Well, not that quickly. You must have been powered up in less than ten seconds.”

                “It was about two.” Mettaton sighed. “Don’t do that ever again, Neo. Please.”

                Neo bit his lip again. “I’m s-sorry I keep causing trouble.”

                “I’m surprised your cannon didn’t end up going off, Neo. That was really dangerous.” Alphys gave him a kiss on the forehead. “But you did well.”

                “Alphys?!” Mettaton spat.

                “You protected one of my best friends in the entire world. I have to thank you for that. But next time, you don’t have to push yourself so hard.”

                “Thank you, Doctor.” He mumbled. “I shouldn’t have done it, though. I’m sorry.”

                “Don’t apologise for making a fuss.” Alphys chided. “Apologise because you very nearly hurt yourself. Apologise to Neo.”

                Neo grimaced. “Doctor, I…”

                “Neo.”

                He hesitated. “I’m…sorry I nearly hurt myself…”

                Mettaton wrapped his arms around Neo, pulling him into a hug. “Please never ever do something like that for me again, okay? Never ever.”

                “I can’t promise…”

                “I love you.” Mettaton sighed into Neo’s shoulder.

                Neo froze up. “H-Huh? D-Did you s-say-“

                Mettaton realised what he’d just said, eye widening in shock. “I-I hadn’t even said that yet.”

                Neo grew very red in the face. “M-Mettaton,” he wrapped his arms around Mettaton and squeezed him. “I love you too.” He whispered.

                Alphys let them cuddle for a while before she spoke up. “Mettaton, can you take Neo downstairs to charge? I’m going to leave some information on things you’ll have to check in Neo’s system tomorrow.”

                Mettaton nodded, guiding Neo up from the floor. “I’ll see you in the morning, is that okay?”

                “Wake up before eight.”

                “Alright, goodnight Doctor.”

                Alphys gave Neo a concerned smile. “Goodnight you two.”


	5. A Night In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mettaton and Neo spend a week together. (( aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ))  
> (theres gonna be smut in the next chapter so this one cuts off abruptly)

 

                It had been almost a week since Mettaton had temporarily moved in during Alphys’ absence, and a routine had already been set in stone. Each morning Mettaton would wake up and leave the spare bedroom, tapping on Neo’s door on the way up the hallway to the kitchen.

Neo would follow Mettaton once he was up, watching Mettaton brew coffee (which was one of the things they didn’t _need,_ but enjoyed the buzz of) and apply makeup. Two days in a row he’d brought outfits home that he’d wear the next day, both suits, for meeting with potential employers. After Mettaton was ready to leave, he’d take a moment to consider the time, and if Neo was lucky, the two of them could have a conversation together before he left for work.

Neo spent all day at the lab, with the exception of taking a ten minute walk sometime throughout the day at Mettaton’s request. So far he’d just skirted around the block the lab was on, but on Saturday he ventured a little further. Past the shopping mall and café he’d visited recently with Mettaton and before with Frisk, there was a walking trail that wound along a river. Neo stayed there for a long time, exploring all the different paths that lead off to places of interest. He’d even seen someone with a keychain on their bag from an anime he liked, which gave him a little rush of energy.

When he finally took note of the time, it was nearing the early evening. The walk back would take just short of an hour, so he’d likely arrive around the time Mettaton had estimated he’d be at the lab that evening. Neo spent the walk back wondering if there was anything he would have time to cook for Mettaton once he got home, and whether or not Mettaton would be in the mood for eating anything.

To his surprise, upon returning home he found the lab was unlocked, meaning Mettaton had come back before him. He slipped inside gingerly, listening out for the other robot’s footsteps. From the front room, the lab seemed very still and quiet. Though he’d never admit it to anyone, the way the lab had a tendency to swallow sound and presence, making Neo feel very isolated and alone, unsettled him. He found himself moving a little lighter and faster on his feet as he made his way downstairs.

Shuffling and soft musical humming echoed just barely around the hallway, grounding Neo somewhat. He walked down to the spare room and gave the door a quick knock.

“I was just about to go and look for you.” Mettaton’s voice carried through the door. Neo felt a little embarrassed by the comment, unsure of how to reply. “I got the day off for tomorrow, isn’t that great?”

                The timid robot thanked Mettaton internally for continuing to speak, a spark of joy pulsing within him. “Are you going to stay at the lab?” Neo bounced just barely on his feet.

                The door slid open and Mettaton stepped out, hair slightly tousled. Probably from changing out of clothes, the taller guessed. “I don’t see any reason why not. I’d like to spend some time with you.”

                Neo beamed, stepping out of Mettaton’s way with a slight bounce to his step. “Do you still wanna eat?”

                Mettaton looked slightly wounded. “Of course, darling. We agreed we would do it every night.”

                Neo bit his lip. “Mm,” Running a hand through his hair, he mumbled “sorry” despite himself. Mettaton ruffled his hair.

                “Don’t worry about it, gorgeous. What are we going to eat?” Mettaton put his hand on Neo’s back, nudging him closer. The two had become a lot more comfortable with subtle contact over the past week, but it always gave Neo a giddy rush when Mettaton made contact with him so easily. Mettaton wasn’t flustered, but enjoyed being close to Neo in the few hours they had together between charging and work.

Neo blinked once, remembering he hadn't made any actual preparations for dinner. "Uh," He sighed. "do you want to order in?"

Mettaton's eyes lit up. "I haven't had takeout in months!" He bounced on his heels. "Yes! Let's order something! What to order, though?"

"I was thinking pizza." Mettaton beamed and nodded enthusiastically.

"Sounds great!" Neo nodded vaguely, walking off to find a computer he could order on with Mettaton in tow. "Do you...not like it when I cook for you...?"

"Oh, of course I love it when you cook for me." Mettaton waved his hand. "I just can't stand Alphys' pantry. If we're going to make the effort to eat, it's such a waste to have ramen several nights in a row."

"Oh, yeah that makes sense." Neo pushed the disappointed frown off his face. He slid open the door to his room, wandering over to the laptop he'd left strewn on the couch. Picking it up and placing it on a nearby desk, he recalled his recent order. "D'you wanna do yours?"

"Yes please, sweetheart." Mettaton had already sat down the couch and was holding out his hands expectantly. Neo passed the computer over. As Mettaton browsed the menus, he glanced up at Neo.

"I didn't hurt your feelings, did I?"

Neo flinched at Mettaton reading him so easily. "No, you didn't."

Mettaton gave him a long look before wordlessly returning to his browsing. He clicked a few times and handed the computer back to Neo. Neo turned to place it on the desk when he felt a pair of arms snake around his waist. Neo dropped the laptop just short of its target, a loud bang resounding from its fall as a result. Neo cringed from the bang but his attention was quickly redirected to Mettaton's arms, along with the soft pressure of Mettaton resting his forehead against his back.

"M-Mettaton?"

"You're very comfortable for someone so pointy." Came Mettaton's mumbled reply. Neo face was glowing pink.

"Th-thank you...I think?"

"s'half an hour."

"Hm?" Neo hesitated for a second before he gently rested his hands on top of Mettaton's, which were knit together just above his heart case. "Half an hour for what?"

Mettaton giggled. "For the pizza." Neo felt himself being pulled backwards and found himself toppling onto Mettaton, who had laid back on the couch and brought Neo with him.

"Ah, M-Mettaton, I'm-"

"You're what darling?" Neo attempted to stay still, despite wanting to wiggle off the lounge.

"I'm h-heavy aren't I?"

Mettaton broke into laughter. "Sweetheart, we're both made out of metal and magic. You're not exactly going to squish me." Metatton took one hand away from Neo's waist and ran it through Neo's hair. "Let me know if I'm too handsy, but don't worry about being too heavy."

He moved his fingers in slow circles on Neo's scalp, the robot letting out a soft sigh. "That's actually really nice." Neo mumbled.

"Isn't it?" Mettaton started using both hands, running them through Neo's hair and rubbing his scalp ever so gently. "Alphys is a real miracle worker. The first time one of my makeup artists did this, it was amazing."

"Hey Mettaton?"

"Yes?"

"Were you always a robot?"

Mettaton froze up, his hands stopping dead still. "Did I say something wrong?" Neo attempted to sit up, but Mettaton gently tugged on his shoulders.

"It's alright. I wasn't always in this body, no." Neo was still curious, but left his questions at that. After a short while, Mettaton wordlessly began massaging Neo's head again. Neo gave a content sigh. A long silence passed between them, but neither of them dared to break it.

Mettaton finally mumbled after an eternity, "it's been half an hour, we should get up" but waited for Neo to break contact first, who sat up and patted down his hair. Mettaton followed shortly after and he two headed upstairs, just in time to hear the doorbell ring.

The glambot strode over to the door, leaving Neo standing a short distance away. Mettaton was loudly yelling something about work to the delivery person when he turned around and beckoned Neo over.

"You've got to see this." Mettaton whispered, but in a loud enough voice so the gesture of whispering was pointless. Neo wandered over and stood just behind Mettaton, peering down at the cat monster on the door step. He had bright citrus coloured fur and was holding a stack of pizza boxes, an ugly grimace across his face.

"B-Boss, I have work right now, can you just pay so-"

Mettaton interrupted his growling with a shrill laugh. "You look absolutely horrid in that polo, who designed those uniforms?!"

The cat looked like he was about to rip his own ears off. "Mettaton, if my pay gets docked for being late, I swear to god-" The cat looked up, cutting himself off with a confused gasp. "What. The. Hell."

Mettaton looked from the cat to Neo and back.

"Oh? That's-"

"Why are there two of you?!" He screeched. "I'd recognise that tacky sense of style anywhere, there's two Mettatons!"

Mettaton snorted, then broke into more laughter.

"Am I in hell...?" The cat muttered. "This is it. My eternal torment, it’s more than I deserve anyway.”

  
Neo had a look of utter confusion across his face, eye flickering from Mettaton to the cat. “Um, it’s nice to meet you?”

  
The cat blinked. “Woah. That’s really weird.” He held out his paw, Neo stepping around Mettaton to shake it. “I’m Burgerpants. You don’t sound like Mettaton.”

  
Neo blinked. “Th-thanks?”

  
“You picked up the nickname?” Mettaton asked, running his hand over the portable card reader Burgerpants had on his belt to pay.

  
“It’s all anyone ever recognises.” The cat grouched. He handed over some of the pizza stack. Neo took it from him with a mumbled thanks. “A genuine thanks? Maybe you’re not Mettaton.”

  
Mettaton giggled. “I’m not that bad.”

  
Burgerpants grimaced. “Whatever you say, boss.” He turned to leave when Mettaton turned him around and slipped a twenty dollar note into his shirt pocket.

  
“Promise me you won’t wear that to work on monday and I’ll give you a few more time and a half hours next week, okay?”

  
Burgerpants beamed for a split second before he came to his senses. “I’ll need to work around my pizza hours.”

  
Mettaton frowned. “Well, obviously. We’ll talk about it later honey, hope we didn’t hold you up too long.” There was a hint of teasing in his voice, but Mettaton seemed genuine.

  
“Unbelievable.” Burgerpants shook his head. “Bye Boss, bye Neo.” He sprinted back to his car. Neo had a giddy grin on his face as the two turned to walk back inside.

  
“What’s the good news?” Mettaton teased. Neo nudged him with his elbow.

  
“You’re really nice, Mettaton.”

  
Mettaton looked confused and a little overwhelmed for a moment before blinking and giving a cocky smile. “Are you surprised?” Mettaton crossed his arms, putting on a playful air. “Burgerpants was employee of the month for the last three months, you know.”

  
“I thought he didn’t like you.” Neo’s memory went back to the abject horror in the cat’s face as he considered the possibility of two Mettatons. “That’s the impression I got, anyway.”

  
“Oh hardly.” Mettaton began undressing the pizza boxes with his eyes. “We have fun.”

  
Neo noticed his stare and walked to the kitchen a little faster, setting down the boxes on the table. “You don’t tease him too much, do you?”

  
Mettaton tapped a finger to his chin, as if he’d never considered it before. “Shouldn’t think so. He’d tell me if it was too much right?”

  
Neo grimaced. “We can’t all be as honest and upfront as you, Mettaton.” Neo mumbled before he quickly added, “Nothing against you, it’s just difficult.” before unboxing his pizza.

  
Mettaton considered it for a little while. “I’ll talk to him then. Just to be sure.”

  
The two fell into relatively idle chatter as they ate, finishing most of their food. “Just wanna take the rest to my room?” Neo offered, already standing up, box in hand.

  
“Sure thing, sweetheart.” Mettaton trailed after them. Neo lead them to his room, where he couch was already pulled out and piled with various bedding. In front of it was his tv, with dvds stacked all up either side. Neo placed the box on the arm of the couch and crouched in front of it, looking over the dvds scattered about.

  
“Is there anything you want to watch? We can stream something, or…”

  
“No need, you can choose whatever you like.” Mettaton sat on the couch with his legs crossed, leaning over to watch Neo. “I’m fine with anything.”

  
“Alright, um, well,” Neo shuffled around a bit. “There’s actually um, a M-Mew Mew Kissy Cutie special airing t-tomorrow I was going to rewatch the latest movie tonight to um, refresh my memory.”

  
Ex bit back a grimace. “If you want to watch that, it’s fine with me.” He shrugged. “If I can just relax and tune out tonight, it’ll be all the better.”

  
“You sure?”

  
“Absolutely. Go ahead.”

  
Neo gave a shy smile, head pointed slightly downwards, obscuring it a bit. Mettaton felt a flutter in his circuits.

  
“Cute…”

  
Neo almost jumped. “H-Huh? What did you say?”

  
Mettaton clapped a hand to his mouth. “Oh, n-nothing, you’re just, um,” Mettaton looked away. “I thought you looked very cute just now.”

  
Neo’s cheeks glowed bright pink. “Oh my goodness, you’re flustered?" Neo asked, Mettaton nodded. "That’s adorable, you’re so adorable Mettaton!”

  
“Well naturally, a star-” Mettaton was interrupted by Neo pulling him into a hug. Neo leant back and poked on Mettaton’s cheek gently.

  
“You’re so beautiful when you’re flustered.”

  
Mettaton was absolutely speechless. He felt his cheeks growing even warmer and fluttering in his chest from Neo’s uncharacteristically suave move. “Well, i-it’s only natural.” He stumbled out, before lowering his volume to say “thank you, darling.” While looking slightly away from Neo’s heart eyed gaze. After what felt like an eternity, Neo shuffled off the couch and started fiddling with the dvd player. Mettaton watched in silence, moving over when the other hopped back on the lounge to make room for him.

The taller robot leant against the backrest and Mettaton laid his head on Neo’s lap, his view of the tv slightly obscured by a lump of blanket. He didn’t mind, opting to just listen to the show instead. The show started and the room was filled with Japanese pop music as the show’s opening played out. Mettaton felt fingers gently make their way through his hair, lightly rubbing his scalp. Mettaton sighed happily, closing his eye and relaxing into Neo’s soft legs.

  
A while passed before Neo’s hand moved closer to Mettaton’s face, just near where his bangs fell over his face. Taking note of this, he sat up, stirring Neo and causing him to pause the show.

“You okay?”

“Yes, just getting more comfortable.” Mettaton lied through a cool smile. His pink lips pressed a quick kiss to Neo’s cheek before he wrapped his arms around Neo’s cannon arm, resting his head against the top of it. The taller boy gave him a strange look for a few seconds, something between confusion and concern, then gave his hand a quick squeeze. The tv flickered back on and the next few minutes ticked by, Mettaton tracing light circles on Neo’s forearm. His fingers trailed further upwards, ever so slowly, reaching the arching wing structures on his shoulders. Neo had lost most of his interest in the show and was paying attention to Mettaton’s subtle touches.

Neo waited until Mettaton’s fingers reached the base of his neck to turn to him just slightly, eyeing him out of curiosity. The glambots face had a look of keen interested and concentration painted across it. “Mettaton?”

Mettaton made eye contact, eye flickering up to meet Neo’s. “Do you mind if I…?” The taller shook his head and Mettaton practically beamed, shuffling forward to get closer to him. He leaned up and gave Neo a quick kiss on the lips, lingering for a moment before pulling back. Neo felt his cheeks grow a little warmer as he leaned down, pulling Mettaton into a proper kiss. Mettaton’s lips tasted sweet against his, the show in the background all but forgotten about as they shared gentle touches. Mettaton broke off and moved over to Neo’s lap, straddling his legs.

 

(IF YOU WANT TO READ SMUT, GO TO THE NEXT CHAPTER)

(IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE SINNING TODAY, WAIT FOR CHAPTER 7)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just skip the next chapter if ur not in the mood for Robot Sin


	6. The morning after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fucken edited this chapter summary nice pretend it dont exist anymore LMAO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant name chapters for anything

 

                Neo’s eyes fluttered open, gazing up at the ceiling. The lab’s lights were turned off, the episode selection screen for an anime dvd flickering on the tv, lighting up the room just barely. His limbs felt heavy, he must have powered down without plugging himself in. He glanced over to his side, seeing Mettaton with one arm across his chest, a pink boot resting on Neo’s legs. Neo sighed happily and went to stroke his hair.

                Then he remembered the night before.

                Neo froze up before stumbling off the couch, tripping on his way and ending up on the floor. He pulled himself back to a standing position as he heard shuffling behind him.

                “Darling?”

                Neo spun, almost too quickly, back stiffening up. He could feel his cheeks burning. Mettaton gazed up at him with ruffled hair and a half lidded eye.

                “Are you alright Neo?” Mettaton giggled. “You look exhausted.”

                Neo sucked in a breath. “I’m fine! I’m good. Little sleepy, but I am good. I’m not flustered about l-last night or anything, so I’m fine. Not embarrassed.”

                “I didn’t even ask yet, hun.”

                Neo sighed, shuffled over to the bed and sat down next to Mettaton. His head landed on Ex’s chest with a soft thud. “I love you.” He mumbled.

                “I love you too.” Ex nuzzled his head just gently. “Are you low on battery, hun?”

                Neo shrugged, slowly. “Probably.” Ex sighed and patted down his hair.

                “That won’t do. I’m plugging you in.”

                Neo whined. “I’m comfy. Let me stay here.”

                “Five minutes.” Ex let out a slow breath. “I was on higher charge than you last night, especially considering how much _energy_ you must have spent last night.”

                Neo felt his cheeks grow warm again. He bit his lip and blocked out Mettaton’s teasing. Mettaton went back to running his fingers through Neo’s hair, guiding it up to stand up like it usually did. Five minutes passed and Mettaton nudged Neo, ignoring his indignant whine and setting him down on the couch. He fished around for Neo’s cord and handed it to him.

                “There you go, darling.”

                Neo didn’t make any effort to move. “Can you do it for me?” He mumbled.

                Mettaton paused for a few seconds. “If, you want me to…?”

                Neo nodded his head, his eye sliding shut as he relaxed into the blankets. Mettaton leaned down and felt around for his port, slipping in his charger with slow, careful movements. Neo hummed happily.

                “I didn’t think you’d want me to do that.”

                “I don’t see why not…” Neo mumbled, as if it were obvious. Mettaton could feel himself blushing despite himself. Mettaton’s private and defensive nature about a lot of things had a tendency to go over Neo’s head, but he found it amusing, a way to ground himself when he was worried about something ridiculous.

                Neo rolled over onto his back and glanced up at Mettaton. “I’ll be up in ten minutes.”

                “No you won’t. Sleep.” He stood up and wandered over to the door, sliding it shut behind him. His eyes danced around the hallway walls for a few moments, pondering the silence for a while. To his disgust, he began to notice dirt on the walls. He knew what he’d do with his free time. An hour into his work, and Mettaton had scrubbed down the entire hallway, the kitchen walls and even parts of the front room. Neo wandered out at some point, sitting down for a while and then joining him in cleaning down the walls.

                Mettaton wiped his forehead (though he didn’t sweat, so it was mostly for show) and adjusted the bandanna on his head. He had gone all out, tying his hair up and wearing a pink glittery apron. Neo had to choke back a laugh every time they made eye contact. The glambot put down the bucket in his hand and strolled into the kitchen, Neo following behind him. Mettaton bent down and began looking through the cupboards under the sink, humming idly.

                “Do you know where Alphys keeps the windex?”

                “Nope.”

                “I’d guess, but the last time I took a guess it was a bad idea. I can’t believe Alphys needs to keep industrial strength acid under the sink.”

                Neo’s eye wandered over to Mettaton for a few seconds, before he pointedly looked in the other direction. “She does weird stuff like that. You get used to it.”

                “That’s true. Still, I wish she’d label things…”

                Neo shrugged, crossing his arms and leaning on the table. He yawned. “I would just ask her if mom was here but-“ Neo suddenly cut himself off, slapping his hand to his mouth. He stared daggers at Mettaton, who was slowly standing up and turning around. He had a feral smirk across his face from ear to ear.

                “Did you just call Alphys-“

                “I didn’t say anything!” Neo yelped.

                “You did! You called Doctor Alphys ‘mom’!”

                Neo could feel heat in his cheeks. He stood up from the table, unsure of why. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! Shut up!”

                “You called Alphys mom! That’s adorable! You’re adorable!”

                “Shut up!”

                “Does that mean I’m dating Alphys’ son?”

                “I’m not listening, I’m not listening-“

                “Does that mean I _fucked_ Alphys’ son?”

                “Nope! I’ve turned my audio drivers off, I can’t hear you.”

                Mettaton meandered over, leaning on the table and propping himself up on his elbows. He made eye contact with Neo for a second before the pointier robot looked away. “Please, we both know you don’t know how to turn your drivers off, darling.”

                “Wow, is Mettaton speaking right now? I can’t hear a thing.” Neo lied.

                Mettaton wandered over and laid a kiss on his forehead. “I’m sure Alphys would be flattered, sweetheart.”

                “I’m not falling for your sweet talk, or listening to you, just in case you were wondering.” Neo huffed. “I liked the kiss though.”

                “Would you like another?”

                Neo’s face grew a little hotter. “Absolutely not. No. Definitely not.”

                “Suit yourself.” Mettaton turned back to the sink and started sorting through the cupboard again. Neo huffed. Then he huffed again, a little louder. Then he tapped on the table. Mettaton didn’t turn around.

                “Come over here, for god’s sake.”

                Ex stood up and turned, the slightest hint of a cocky smirk on his lips. “Oh darling,” he said in an overly offended tone. “I thought you didn’t want a kiss.”

                “You’re the worst and I hate you.”

                Mettaton shrugged. “I guess, if that’s the way it has to be…”

                In a split second, Neo had stood up from the table, grabbing Ex by the shoulder and pulling him into a rough, quick kiss. He had pulled back before Mettaton even had time to respond. Ex had a light flush on his cheeks, and a giddy smile.

                “You’re so eager.~”

                “Shut the hell up.”

                “I thought you couldn’t hear me?”

                Neo thought about how great it would be to smack him in his pretty face. His really, really, pretty face. “I’m going back to cleaning.”

                “So cold!”

                Neo blocked him out as he picked up the bucket Mettaton had discarded, pulling it with him to the opposite wall. “Wow, cleaning is great. I love this. I love cleaning and not giving Mettaton attention.”

                Mettaton was pouting, and Neo wanted to turn around to see it, but knew that would be giving him some kind of attention, so he kept his focus in front of him instead. “Neo…” Neo hummed, ringing out a washcloth. “Neo…” Still humming, he wiped down the wall. “Neo!”

                “God, what?”

                “I can’t find the Windex.”

                Neo sighed. He spun around to look at Ex, who had gotten a lot closer to him in the few seconds he took to drag out his sigh. Ex, in arm’s length of Neo, pouted and then gently flicked his forehead.

                _Be the bigger robot, Neo._ “What’s up, Mettaton?”          

                “Where’s the Windex, darling? You’re taking too long.”

                “Cupboard.”

                “I looked.”

                “Not hard enough, obviously.”

                “I looked for ages. Help me.”

                “It’s the third from the right.”

                “I looooked.” Mettaton whined.

                Neo sighed. “Alright, fine, I’ll go and get it.” He dropped the washcloth into the bucket, meandering over to the cupboard. He knelt down and opened the cupboard door third from the right. “Here it is.”

                “That looks exactly like the industrial strength acid bottle.”

                Neo shrugged. “Windex is third from the right, always.” He tapped on the bottle, where the tag should have been. “Even if they haven’t got the name on them.”

                Mettaton sighed, taking the bottle from Neo’s outstretched hand. “Thank you, darling. God, what an abysmal organisational system…”

                “It’s simple. Window cleaner, blue bottle third from the left, industrial strength acid, third from the right.” Neo stood and wandered across the room. Mettaton followed him, a frown spreading across his face.

                “Hey-hey wait – did you just change your wording? Third from what? The left?”

                Neo tuned him out, picking up where he left off at the far wall.

                “Neo? What’s in this bottle?”

                “You’ll have to test it on something and find out.”

                “Neo!” Mettaton struggled to find something to say. “What if I melt Alphys’ windows?”

                “Oh man, that would be bad. Better not do that, huh?”

                “Neo!”

                “Man, Alphys would have to go to _so_ much trouble to replace them. I hope you have the right one.”

                Mettaton pouted, pushing his lip out and frowning aggressively at Neo. Neo wrung out a washcloth, humming absently. Ex sighed and wandered over to the kitchen window, hesitating for a few moments before he pulled the trigger on the spray bottle. He waited a few seconds…no melting window.

                “By the way, I lied, I made Alphys move all the acid cleaner out of the kitchen last week.”

                Mettaton sighed, wiping down the window in front of him. “You’re so mean today.”

                Neo glanced backwards, concern washing over his features for a moment. “Am I going too far?”

                Mettaton giggled. “No, sweetheart.”

                Neo smiled. "That's good then. I'm glad."  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im uploading a lot of chapters today >:3c !! like 3 i think  
> also the ending for these chapters are all really abrupt forgive me ;- ;


	7. Guests

 

                Late in the evening, one particular glambot was in need of cuddles. Cuddles from another glamorous robot to be precise. Mettaton had had a long day. A _very_ long day, as a result, as he shuffled in through the front door of the lab, throwing down his things and striding downstairs, he felt a little mushy, a little moody, a little vulnerable.

                “Neo~,” Mettaton called out, sounding needy. He heard movement from down the hallway. “Neo, you home?”

                “Mettaton?”

                Mettaton froze up. Was that… “Sans?” He picked up the pace, sliding open Neo’s door and peering inside. Neo was sitting cross legged on the couch, Sans was on a stool next to the couch. They were both staring wide eyed at the door.

                “Neo, what-“

                “Neo, you didn’t tell me he’d be home!”

                Neo blinked, then he frowned. “I didn’t think there was a problem…did I…uh…”

                Mettaton took a deep breath. “No, it’s uh, it’s fine, isn’t it Sans?”

                Sans was grimacing. “’s fine.”

                “It’s been a while.” Mettaton hummed. Neo’s eye was flickering between them.

                “It sure has. Um, a year or so.”

                “Quite.”

                Sans was still grimacing, throwing a desperate glance to Neo. Neo was silent, the room lingering in suspense for a few moments. Suddenly, Mettaton huffed, turning around and walking out the door. “I’m going to make some tea. You two have fun.” The door slammed shut. Neo looked over to Sans, who was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

                “What was that about?” Neo mumbled.

                The skeleton looked uneasy, searching for words. “Long story dude, um, I’ll go fix it, okay?” He shuffled off his seat, straightening his jacket. “I’ll let you know when I’m back.”

                Neo nodded, his hand absently tensing around his cannon arm. “I’ll wait here then…um…I hope everything is okay.”

                Sans moved to speak, then simply nodded and waved him off as he stepped out. Neo noticed how Sans’ steps seemed to stop as soon as he was out of sight.

~

                “Hey, Metta?” Sans poked his head into the kitchen. Mettaton, his back turned to the skeleton, fumbled with a mug in his hand for a moment, looking like he was going to drop it. He recovered swiftly and mumbled out a hello. “We need to talk, Met.”

                Mettaton bit back a sigh. “Quite.”

                “Metta, I don’t know what’s going on but, I want to put it behind us.” Sans was grimacing, wishing the robot would turn to him and give him some sort of sign he wasn’t just blocking him out completely.

                “I thought we did that already.”

                Sans was drilling holes into Mettaton’s back with his eyes.

                “You want one?”

                “Want one what?”

                “Tea. Do you want some tea?”

                Sans knew better than to refuse someone’s hospitality, so he nodded, before remembering Mettaton wasn’t looking and mumbling out “Yes please.”.

                Sans watched Mettaton prepare tea for a few minutes in relative silence before a cup was slid his way. Mettaton was finally looking in his general direction, leaning against the kitchen counter. They weren’t quite making eye contact, but Sans felt a bit of relief as he sipped at his tea anyway. It tasted just like he liked it, and something about that made his chest ache a bit.

                “Met, I want to say I – “

                “You didn’t call once?”

                Sans fell silent again, chewing on his words for a while. “I’m sorry.” He paused to take a sip and compose himself. “I just want to put that behind us…so I didn’t drag it up.”

                Mettaton tapped his mug with his finger. Sans could read the emotions he was attempting to settle down. “You could have made one call. Or dropped in. Or something.”

                “Met, we-“

                “I mean, Sans, I loved you, and you just leave one day?”

                Sans chewed on his words again. He thanked Mettaton for pouring him tea, nursing it as he tried to think of something to say. Something that would make it better. “I don’t think I believed that you loved me.” Sans immediately wanted to punch himself in the face.

                Mettaton looked hurt. Really, really hurt. Sans was screaming on the inside.

                “I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant,” Sans huffed. “It’s not you it’s me.”

                Mettaton groaned. “Sans, really?”

                “No, really, I mean, it’s,” Sans sounded like his mouth was running faster than his brain, trying to come up with what he wanted to say. “It’s just hard to believe.”

                Mettaton wasn’t any more impressed, and he still looked hurt. He was gripping the mug in his hands a little tighter. “You’re not making this sound any better.”

                Sans inwardly cursed at himself. “You’re, just,” he went to take a sip of his tea but thought better of it. “THE Mettaton. You know? You’re THE Mettaton, the star of the underground, you know? And I’m, I’m just…”

                “Sans…?”

                “Exactly, I’m just Sans! I’m just…a guy.” Sans actually took a sip this time, throwing it back with a little too much force. “I’m just Sans the skeleton. I’m a guy who can’t even keep his _room_ clean, like some sort of teenager, while you’re…you’re just amazing, you have it all together you know? You’ve got this presence, people respect you. _I_ respect you. Way too much to let you…to…to…let you be with me.” Sans sunk down into his chair, pulling his tea close to his face and leaning on the table. He couldn’t meet Mettaton’s stare, his disappointed eye, the frown that swept over his features.

                “Sans, I had no idea you felt like that.”

                “I guess I didn’t know, either.”

                Mettaton walked over to the table, pulling up a chair opposite Sans. He laid his hands on the table near where Sans’ were holding tightly onto his mug. “Sweetheart, I chose to be close to you for a reason.”

                Sans took a sip, staring down at his hands.

                “I loved you.” Mettaton almost whispered.

                “I loved you too.” Sans sighed heavily. “Let’s just forget about it. None of that matters anymore.”

                Mettaton tensed up a bit. “Do you understand how much it mattered to _me_ , Sans?”

                Sans flinched, looking up at Mettaton for the first time in a while. He looked pissed. Sans felt a dizzying wave of guilt. “…I’m sorry Metta, I didn’t think.”

                “If you want my opinion, it was…uncharacteristically selfish of you.”

                Sans leant back in his chair, struggling to look at Mettaton, feeling the tug of guilt trying to pull his eyes away. “I’m sorry, Met. I’ll stop.”

                “I’m…willing to let it go.” Mettaton mumbled. “I can just let it go and be friends. I don’t want you to cut me off, anymore. I don’t want you to ignore my calls. Let’s just…be friends.”

                “Let’s be friends, then.”

                “I’m sorry for getting angry.”

                “Metta, you shouldn’t apologise. I was being a total _bonehead_ this whole time, you’re allowed to be angry.”

                “I don’t miss your jokes.” Mettaton pouted, standing up from the table and rinsing off his mug. “You should go back and tell Neo I’m heading back to the studio to pick up some things.”

                Sans shrugged, following Mettaton over to the sink. “Sure, I can. It’s really late though, can it wait until tomorrow?”

                “No, I just remembered. I really have to get them before tomorrow.” Mettaton said, his eye trailing off to the side like it always did when he was lying. Sans noticed it, but let it slide.

                “I’ll catch up with you then.” Sans began to walk to the hallway when he paused, glancing back at Mettaton. “Hey Met? Be safe. Neo’d hate for you to be hurt, he loves you a Mett-a-ton.”

                Mettaton groaned. “Goodnight, Sans.” He waited until the skeleton had wandered off down the hallway to break out into a smile, wandering out of the kitchen and towards the front entrance to the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more !!


	8. Guests (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> happy birthday mettatonfckr!!!

 

                When Mettaton returned to the lab the next day, having not returned the previous evening, he threw down a duffel bag of clothing in the front room, dashing over to the stairs and sliding down the hand rail with way too much flair for six in the evening. “Neo~! I’m home~!”

                He slid open Neo’s bedroom door, coming face to face with both Neo and Sans, who were standing near the door already. “Hi, Mettaton!” Neo chirped, leaning forward to wrap his arms around Mettaton. Mettaton returned the gesture and pecked him on the cheek just so, enjoying the first real physical contact they’d had in a few days.

                “Jeeze Sans, anyone would think you were after my man.” Mettaton teased as he eyed Sans, the skeleton standing next to them with an amused grin. “You’re over here a lot lately.”

                “I don’t mean tibia intruder.” Sans shrugged. Mettaton grit his teeth and refused to react to his lame pun. “Alphys is away, remember?”

                Neo wandered off and Mettaton stared blankly at Sans. “She’s away?”

                “Yeah have you…not…noticed?”

                Mettaton pulled a face as he thought about it. “….nnnooooo? I’ve been at home a lot more this week, so…”

                “Dude, oh my god,” Sans burst out laughing. “you haven’t seen her in a week. She left on Monday.”

                Mettaton resisted the urge to slap his forehead. “Urgghh, that’s right, she mentioned it to me vaguely…How long is she away for?”

                “Four weeks. Well, three now.”

                “Wait, what about maintenance?”

                Neo laughed from across the room, where he was fiddling with his laptop. “Sans is gonna do it.”

                Sans shot Mettaton a sly grin for just a moment, raising his eyebrows at him. “Remember? I can do maintenance just as well as Alphys.”

                Mettaton remembered. Oh boy, did he remember. He remembered maintenance with Sans to be less of a relaxing experience and more of a thrilling one, though. His mind wandered for a bit before he caught himself. _Not thinking about fucking a skeleton today, Mettaton._

                “You okay Met? Anyway, I’m here now to just collect Neo’s logs, and I can get yours at the same time too if you want. I’ll go over them and see if anything seems weird, then come back tomorrow.”

                Mettaton considered his options for a moment, then nodded his head. “Of course darling, I can do that.” Sans looked pleased, clapping his hands together.

                “Right, well that makes things easier.” He turned to Neo, who had been waiting for the two of them to finish speaking so he could wrap his arms around Mettaton, clinging to his side. Mettaton gave him a kiss on the head and wrapped one arm around him. “I’ve already got Neo’s logs, lovebirds, I just need you to pull out that card for me.”

                Mettaton nodded, absently running his hand down his back to feel for a seam. He pressed it in with just the right amount of pressure and pulled just upwards, opening up the panel to reveal ports on his back. He fished around for the card slot and pulled it out, holding the card with two fingers and pulling the panel shut as he lifted it out. He handed the tiny card to Sans, who took care in avoiding the golden contacts on it. “Are you staying for dinner, Sans?”

                “You guys still eat?” Sans asked, all but ignoring the invitation itself. He looked surprised, flipping the card around in his bony fingers as he spoke. “Thought you didn’t need to.”

                “It’s just a household tradition. Besides, monster food gives robots a bit of an energy boost, too.” Neo chirped. “Alphys doesn’t like eating alone, so I got used to it.”

                “D’aw, that’s real cute.” He teased, slipping the card into his jacket pocket. “Sure, I’ll stick around for food.” He slid his hands into his pockets. “Let’s stop standing around here like a bunch of chumps and go make something, though.” He wandered off to the kitchen, taking his time. He slipped two cards out of his pocket, reading over the tags. Behind him, Neo held onto Mettaton’s hand as they walked, leaning his head on the other’s shoulder.

                “I’m sorry about being clingy.” Neo whispered, gently squeezing Mettaton’s hand. “I missed you the past few days.”

                Mettaton sighed happily, squeezing Neo’s hand back. “I don’t mind one bit, sweetheart. I missed you as well.”

                Neo beamed, releasing Mettaton’s hand and heading for the kitchen, walking a bit faster than Mettaton. Mettaton watched him trail after Sans, who had quite a considerable walking pace despite looking so relaxed. Once he made it to the kitchen, Neo was going through cupboards, sniffing around for something to eat. Sans was sitting on one of the chairs around the kitchen table, having turned it around to watch him.

                “The pantry isn’t empty again, is it?” Mettaton drawled. Neo frowned in defeat.

                “Yeah.” He pouted. “But it’s not like it’s always empty. Alphys eats.”

                “Alphys eats ramen. Always. Just noodles.” Mettaton sighed. “I’m sure she only ever eats because she has to.”

                “Most people eat because they have to.” Sans teased. Mettaton shot him an unimpressed glare.

                “Well, that’s alright, um, we can order in?” Neo said, unsure of whether or not Mettaton was actually annoyed, or just playing around with Sans. He wasn’t too eager to find out by having an argument break out, though.

                “Not pizza. You eat way too much pizza.” Mettaton chided.

                “What’s wrong with pizza?” Sans asked. “You got something against pizza? I oughta give you a pizza’ my mind.”

                Mettaton looked magnificently frustrated and speechless.

                “That was pretty bad, Sans.” Neo giggled.

                Mettaton shot Neo a desperate look. “Why are you encouraging him?”

                “I said nothing.” Neo replied, smirking.

                “I certainly didn’t hear anything.” Sans grinned. “I’ve _bot_ pretty good hearing, so I’d know.”

                “I’m leaving, I’m going home – “ Mettaton whined, pouting.

                “Alright Sans, that’s enough.” Neo was stifling giggles, delighting in Mettaton’s frustration. “Let’s…” he took a moment to giggle. “Give him some pizza and quiet.”

                Sans cracked up, bursting into laughter as Neo did the same. The two were howling.

                “I hate you two!”

                “You’re smiling!” Neo said between infectious laughter.

                “I am and I hate it!” He struggled to hold in laughter, the room’s energy being completely infectious.

The three of them shared jokes for the rest of the evening, with Sans constantly frustrating Mettaton with various puns and bad jokes. Eventually they waved him off sometime after midnight, the two robots going back to spend the next few hours recharging and relaxing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo! i hope the 3 part update was good! i got this all done in a hurry but i put a lot of work into it (when i should have been doing other stuff whoops, this was too good to not write though)  
> one last happy birthday to mettatonfckr, without them this fic which has become my pride and joy wouldnt have been possible. I love you angel!! I hope your year is amazing <3


End file.
